Beijing Physical Geography

Beijing Municipality is located between 116° 20' east longitude and 39° 56' north latitude, with Tianjin City on its eastern border and Hebei Province on the other three sides.

Lying in the northern part of North China Plain, Beijing is surrounded by mountains on the west, the north and the northeast. The northeastern part of the city is high while the southwestern part is low topographically, with a southeastern plain tilted gradually downward to the Bohai Sea. Major rivers flowing through Beijing include Yongding River, Chaobai River, North Canal and Juma River that mostly originated in the northeastern mountainous areas of Beijing. These rivers flow through rugged mountains towards southeastern plain of Beijing and in the end join the Bohai Sea.

Beijing has a continental monsoon climate with four distinct seasons. Spring and autumn are short while winter and summer are long. The average temperature of Beijing in year 2002 is 13.2°C. December was the coldest month with an average temperature of -2.9oC while July was the hottest month with an average temperature of 27.5°C. Average annual rainfall in 2002 equaled 370.4 millimeters, which was relatively low. The frost-free period of Beijing for year 2002 was 199 days.

Beijing occupies a total area of 16,807.8 square kilometers. Around 10,417.5 square kilometers are mountainous areas, which constitute 62 percent of the total space of Beijing. The plain area of Beijing covers 6,390.3 square kilometers, which accounts for 38 percent of the city's total area. Beijing municipality has 16 subordinate districts and 2 counties.